February may be the shortest month, but we’ve still managed to find time to welcome a whole bunch of new employees to Knewton. Here’s a bit of background on each new member of our team:

Lauren North joins Knewton as the HR and Operations Associate. Originally from Southhampton, England, Lauren received her BSc Psychology from Loughborough University and her MSc Organizational Psychology from Goldsmiths University, London. Before coming to Knewton, she worked for the electrical engineering company ABB, in a two-year HR rotational program that allowed her to live in amazing countries such as Switzerland, Malaysia, and India. That’s not the only traveling Lauren’s done, either: before going to university, she spent 8 months living with the Masai tribe in Tanzania.

Sam Thomson comes to Knewton as a Software Engineer on our Adaptive Learning Team. Previously, Sam worked as a Lead Software Developer at sulia.com, where he organized, ranked, and filtered Twitter by topic. Sam hails from Townshend, VT and graduated from Cornell University. His favorite musician is Ahmad Jamal, and he couldn’t live without the internet, good company, and VT cheddar. Other hobbies include playing jazz piano, robotics, and tennis. Find Sam on Twitter @sammthomson.

Will Cross joins the Adaptive Learning team as a Data Analyst. In the simplest possible terms, Will says, “I figure out when data is lying.” Before coming to Knewton, he taught physics to high school freshman in Newark. Prior to that, he spent most of his life in California, attending UC-San Diego for undergrad and UC-Irvine for grad school. Will’s proudest accomplishments are his two kids, who, he says, “my wife tells me are mine.” In his free time, he enjoys financial modeling, politics, economics, and video games. Will once caught a wild bat with his bare hands in a crowded airport terminal; we have no doubt that prowess will come in handy someday in the jungle that is Union Square!

Solon Gordon is the newest member of our Quality Assurance (QA) team. When asked how he would explain his job to his (or someone else’s) grandmother, Solon said, “I try to imagine anything that could go wrong with our products and find it before a customer does.” Originally from Wilbraham, MA, Solon graduated from Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music. He’s still putting that music education to good use by moonlighting as a collaborative pianist. Solon’s favorite movie is Annie Hall, and he couldn’t live without fresh bread, headphones, and public transit.